Paedophile

A convicted child rapist has been allowed to take children on horse and carriage rides along the Paphos coast and in Peyia since 2014 because a series of legal loopholes meant he did not need a police clearance certificate to obtain the necessary licence. The man was sentenced to nine years in prison in 2006 after being found guilty of the sexual abuse and rape of a 14-year-old girl in 2005, and to 2.5 years a year later after being found guilty of the sexual abuse and the attempted rape of another girl, also 14, between 2002 and 2003.

The man, who was a horse farm owner at the time, filed appeals against both convictions which were rejected. After his release, he applied for and was granted a licence to run a horse and cart business offering rides to visitors in the harbour area of Paphos for 2014, 2015 and 2016. Paphos municipality sources have told the Sunday Mail that he was not given another licence after concerns were raised over his previous convictions and possible inappropriate conduct because he was transporting tourists and their children.

But last summer he was then given a licence by Peyia municipality to transport tourists along the Coral Bay strip, and last Christmas – dressed as a Father Christmas elf – he gave festive rides to children at the Peyia Christmas Fayre. This case, according to Children’s Rights Commissioner Leda Koursoumba, is a glaring example of shortcomings in the existing law in force only since 2014 which forbids those convicted of child sexual abuse, exploitation and offences concerning child pornography to hold jobs that have to do with children.

But the current law is not retroactive. The ban does not cover those sentenced before 2014, Koursoumba said, highlighting the gap in the law and the national strategy to fight sexual abuse and exploitation of children. “If everyone’s wish is the wellbeing of children, they ought to be amended,” Koursoumba told the Sunday Mail. The law, she said, needs to be amended so that it covers those convicted before 2014, “for the protection of the children”.

Yet another legislative loophole meant that in neither Paphos nor Peyia did the convicted child abuser have to provide a clean criminal record from the police to obtain his local authority licence. At present, those wishing to offer horse carriage services must obtain what is known as a street vendor permit from the local government. To issue such a licence, no clean criminal record is necessary.

Peyia mayor, Marinos Lambrou, told the Sunday Mail, he had no idea of the man’s past but that he had been given a permit to carry tourists in his horse and carriage after presenting all requested documentation. “He had all the relevant paperwork, concerning his horse and insurance coverage,” said Lambrou. He said that this concerned only a month last summer.

“If all this is true, it is sad, and of course, we will not grant him a licence in the future without a police clearance,” Lambrou said. According to Peyia municipal secretary, Marios Matheou, the man was given a street vendor permit which expired at the end of 2018.

“There is no provision in the law to oblige a street vendor to present a clean criminal record,” Matheou said.

He added that because no provisions in the law on municipalities cover a special licence for the commercial use of horse and cart, applicants obtain the same one as street vendors. A source told the Sunday Mail, that in the case of the Paphos municipality, it was actually known that the man was a convicted child rapist before he was given a licence.

As the municipal council members opposed to him getting a licence were outnumbered by those in favour, he was able to operate in the town’s harbour area for three years. The thinking behind the move was that he had served his sentence for his offences and was entitled to make a living, the source said, adding that the area where the carriage was operating was crowded, well-lit and had security cameras, thus eliminating possibility of misconduct.

But in 2017, the Sunday Mail has learned, Paphos mayor Phedonas Phedonos stepped in and refused outright to have the man’s licence renewed. But for lawyer Anastasia Papadopoulou, who is also the head of the council for the implementation of the national strategy to fight sexual abuse and exploitation of children and child pornography, even if local authorities did not technically break the law in this case, they ought to be far more vigilant in such matters.

“Employers must ask staff working with children to present a document that they have not been convicted of any sex offences against minors,” Papadopoulou told the Sunday Mail. Even though the man was not a local authority employee, as he was only given a licence to run his horse carriage, because he worked around children, authorities should have asked for this type of documentation she said.

“They must be more sensitised over such issues,” she said.

By 2017 Paphos municipality had learned this lesson. In its call for an expression of interest for licences to horse carriage owners for 2017, it included among its stipulations a clean criminal record. Koursoumba told the Sunday Mail that the case also raises serious concerns over the vagueness of the current law listing jobs that deal with children.

“It is clear for some professions, such as that of the teacher, but for others, such as street vendors it is not,” she said.

The commissioner said that a list ought to be made specifying these jobs by assessing the risk to children to make it easier for employers and members of the public. According to the 2014 law on the Prevention and Combating of Sexual Exploitation, Sexual Exploitation of Children and Child Pornography, the court has the power, along with the sentence to someone found guilty of such offences, to issue a decree which prohibits or terminates the employment of the convict in places frequented by children.

The court can also ban the convicted person from staying in the same residence as the victim or other children, or in a space adjacent to either the house of the victim or of other areas where children frequent. A lawyer told the Sunday Mail, however, that this is not that common.

The same law provides that persons convicted of such offences will permanently have this on their criminal record. Justice Minister, Ionas Nicolaou, said on Friday that a bill to amend the 2014 law would be presented to the cabinet on Monday for approval and sent to parliament for discussion. The bill, Nicolaou said, aims to cover gaps and omissions found in the 2014 law over the past four years.

COMMENT

It is beyond belief that this sick predator has been allowed to work with the public after raping a child. He was sentenced to NINE YEARS in prison for the rape of a FOURTEEN YEAR OLD GIRL and then allowed to work in a situation where he could, would and has come in to contact with children.

Cyprus does not have a Sex Offender's register, but it is long overdue, there is far too much being covered up, far too many incidents of families covering up for sex offenders in their family, or sick people like this being allowed to carry on as normal because they know the right people, this MUST STOP NOW!

Those who cover up for paedophiles are just as guilty as the perpetrator!

There is a petition for a Sex Offenders Register in Cyprus that I have been more than happy to help get off the ground, if you are reading this, please sign it. You can find it HERE!

The man who admitted kidnapping two boys from their Larnaca primary school in September pleaded guilty on Wednesday to two charges of giving them sedatives. Giorgos Nicolaou, 35, alias George, had pleaded guilty to kidnapping the boys back in November last year but denied administering Lorazepam to either of them.

On Wednesday, Nicolaou changed his plea and the court adjourned until February 1 when prosecutors will present the case. The court also instructed the welfare office to prepare a report on the defendant’s conditions.

He will remain in custody until then.

Nicolaou was arrested at his flat in the Kamares area of Larnaca around seven hours after the boys went missing from school early in the morning on September 25. He had pretended to be a new teacher at the school and asked a group of boys for help to carry some books. The two boys, who were friends, volunteered and apparently followed him to his flat.

The children were found unharmed but dazed and confused at around 3pm. It later emerged that they had been given sedatives in lemonade to keep them quiet. Police said they found nothing incriminating on a computer found at the suspect’s flat. The ease with which the defendant managed to take the boys sparked a big debate about security, prompting authorities to announced strict measures, including high fences and guards.

COMMENT

This is a clear indication firstly of Police negligence, there is NO WAY that a paedophile gets to middle age without being known to the police. I am convinced and the evidence of my research indicates that he was not only known to the police, but they were also aware that he had made two previous attempts to abduct children in the preceding few days.

Due to their negligence, these boys were in the clutches of this monster for seven or eight hours! This report states that the children were unharmed, really? They were sedated, in his bed, one was released from hospital the next day, and the other was kept for a few more days…….why?

There is no sex offender’s register in Cyprus, no equivalent of Sarah’s law, too much negligence, too much is covered up and too many people get away with too much………this incident should be consider a matter of NATIONAL SHAME!

A Paedophile was pardoned by the president, released from prison and allowed to return to live in the village where his victim lives! His wife who was connected to his abuse, but never charged, has been allowed to continue working at a school!

According to information gathered by the Cyprus Mail,

Age criteria that made possible the early release from jail with presidential pardon of a child molester and others with similar offences was drafted by the justice ministry and conveyed to the attorney-general a few days after President Nicos Anastasiades’ re-election early in 2018. The government however, argues that no criteria existed under previous governments and a lot of sex offenders had been released indiscriminately in the past. However, the current criteria only excludes from early release, those convicts who had committed sexual offences against minors up to the age of 13. If the victim was older but still a minor, the convict was not excluded from early release.

The government has been under heavy fire for the past couple of days following the early release of a child molester who had benefitted from a general presidential pardon granted by President Nicos Anastasiades after his re-election in February this year. The man was released on Sunday and he returned home to the same neighbourhood as his victim, now an adult, who was not however informed of his release.

He had been sentenced to three years in jail and was due to be released on March 29, 2019.

Main opposition Akel MP Irini Charalambidou had accused the government of setting age criteria to enable the release of a prominent individual who had been jailed for sexually abusing a child. She said the problem was not the 2014 law, which includes severe custodial penalties for such crimes, but the long-established practice of presidential pardons that commute the sentences of child molesters by one-quarter.

“In January 2018, the prison governor was clear that people jailed for life or committed crimes against minors were not granted a presidential pardon,” Charalambidou said on her Facebook page.

“In the meantime, age criteria have emerged as a deus ex machina so that certain people are released from prison,” she said. “It’s as if a child that is abused or raped when 14 suffers less, so leniency must be showed through presidential pardon, to the criminal who hurt them.”

Responding to Charalambidou, Justice Minister Ionas Nicolaou issued a statement on Thursday afternoon saying that the criteria was introduced during the current administration’s term for the first time after identifying the weaknesses of the existing system. He added that before the criteria, when the Akel-backed Demetris Christofias administration took office in 2008, 22 people who had been convicted for sexual offences against minors of all ages had also been released early, among others.

“In 2018, on the basis of the defined criteria, apart from lifers, also excluded were those convicted for sexual offences against minors up to 13-years-old, or against minors up to the third degree of kinship.”

“Pardon was granted based on the charges and not based on specific individuals included on the list, which, apart from the convict in question, included others with the same offence,” the minister said. The minister said the presidential pardon was granted with the agreement of the attorney-general to a list of convicts drafted on the basis of the criteria (by the prison administration) and submitted to the attorney-general, as part of the established practice applied since 1960, upon the assumption of office by the new president.

The minister however, did not specify when or who drafted the criteria and why it had been decided to set 13 years of age as the ceiling. A source told the Cyprus Mail that the criteria was drafted by the justice ministry and conveyed to the attorney-general a few days after Anastasiades’ re-election last February. The source said the criteria was not only specific to child molesters but it also included other offences.

Earlier on Thursday, the head of a child watchdog was tasked with drafting stricter criteria relating to the release of convicted child molesters from prison. The decision came after Anastasiades had to issue a statement apologising following the public outcry, which greeted the news that the state had pardoned the man.

The case was made public by Anastasia Papadopoulou, the head of the council for the implementation of the national strategy to fight sexual abuse and exploitation of children and child pornography, who met Anastasiades on Thursday to discuss the criteria that should govern presidential pardons given upon their election to office.

According to a written statement issued by deputy government spokeswoman, Klelia Vassiliou, the president asked Papadopoulou to draft comprehensive proposals regarding the criteria that should be put in place to preclude certain categories of offenders from receiving the general pardon but also a comprehensive policy to support the victims of sexually-related crimes, irrespective of age.

The Cyprus Mail reports that a man convicted of sexually abusing a minor along with his wife, for FOUR YEARS has been PARDONED and allowed to live in the same area as his victim!

The head of a children’s watchdog charged on Tuesday that the state had pardoned a man convicted of sexually abusing a minor and he is now free, living without supervision in the same neighborhood as his victim. Anastasia Papadopoulou, the head of the council for the implementation of the national strategy to fight sexual abuse and exploitation of children and child pornography, posted on Facebook that a presidential pardon had been granted at the recommendation of the attorney-general to a child molester.

By doing so, she said, the procedures where paedophiles are put under supervision were bypassed. According to Papadopoulou, the law mandates that newly-released convicts are put under supervision to prevent them from reoffending but nothing of the sort was done in this case.

This process was bypassed in this case, she said, and the court did not impose supervision when sentencing and the responsible authority was never informed of the premature release.

“No restrictive or protective measure has been imposed,” she said.

Papadopoulou said the victim, now an adult, knew of the release when she heard the celebrations for the return of the offender to the neighbourhood. “And now she dreads the time she will see him before her. No one informed her. Once more, no one protected her.”

The woman had suffered sexual abuse for four years at the hands of the man and his wife, Papadopoulou said. The wife was never charged with any offence and is still employed at a school, she added. The victim spoke of her ordeal with help from other people, managing to stand before a court where she went through a lot “because we told her break your silence and we will be there as a state and as society. “Let us think for a while how she felt when she heard the return celebration and how she feels every time she stands at the door and contemplates daring to go out.”

Opinion:

What is going on with this Paedophile agenda? We have a president who instigated and supported blatant THEFT from the very citizens he was elected to protect. He then pardons Then he pardons Efi Herododou, who left someone for dead (nothing to do with any connection with her father) and now, he is allowing mainstream Paedophilia. This is not just unique to Cyprus, in the UK, their are entire Paedophile rings within the Government and the police and anyone who gets too close is 'deal with' All this so called political correctness has NOTHING to do with fairness and equality, it is about creating an environment where people are afraid to speak up about anything, it was the thin end of the wedge and all over the media, we see people's fear of speaking up and now we are expected to stay silent while a CHILD MOLESTER is allowed to live in the same area as his victim? NO! NO! NO! I support ANY ACTION that would have this man EXPOSED, NAMED and SHAMED, or left to the retribution of the public! Enough of this rubbish..........It was not the president's child who was molested, so he does not care.........SHAME ON HIM!!!